2011 Comic-Con: 'Charlie's Angels' Panel

The Hilton just across the way from Comic-Con hosted its own share of panels this year, including one for ABC’s new reboot, Charlie’s Angels, due to hit this fall. The trailer for the series was shown introducing each of the angels and showing fast cuts of doors being kicked down, people being punched, cars being spun, and – of course – lots of the new cast. It closed with the words: “These ain’t your mama’s angels.”

Schneider then introduced the cast: Ramon Rodriguez (The Wire) as Bosley, reinterpreted as a hacker, and the three new angels: Annie Ilonzeh (General Hospital) as Kate, a dirty cop-turned; Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights) as Eve, a former car thief; and Rachael Taylor (Grey’s Anatomy), a cat burglar. They were joined on stage by executive producers Miles Millar and Alfred Gough (both of Smallville).

Gough admitted some reluctance at first to take on another established and beloved property after Smallville. “There’s a car wreck mentality,” he said. “They’ll tune into the pilot, to see you fail.” But he said he hoped viewers would be turned into believers when they saw the show, with a whole host of changes to the traditional Angels mythology. Rather than originally a bunch of bored police cadets, now each of the ladies come from darker backstories. “We [also] made Bosley young and hot,” Gough said. “We wanted Bosley to be the fourth angel,” saying Rodriguez’s character will be much more active in the stories, and the one with the closest relationship to Charlie.”

The producers teased that Charlie would – per tradition – never been seen by the angels, but might be seen by the audience. In the pilot, Charlie is voiced by Robert Wagner, who was unable to commit to an entire series. So the show is currently hunting for a replacement, even asking any audience members participating in the Q&A to preface their question with a Charlie suggestion. Being the Comic-Con crowd, names were predictable: votes for Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation) and Nathan Fillion (Firefly) got multiple nominations, along with Bill Murray, James Brolin, and amusingly, Gilbert Gottfried (“He is available,” Gough conceded of the recently fired from Aflac comic).

They also moved the show’s setting form Los Angeles to Miami, which Gough felt was more international and “had a sense of glamour.” Fashion will play a big part of the show, as it has in all the brand’s previous incarnations.

Gough also said executive producer Drew Barrymore was very involved in the show and casting, but was confusing when asked if former angels
– like Barrymore – would make any appearances on the show in guest appearances: “Maybe, but probably not,” saying he wanted the series to stand on its own… but then pointing out Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher (all involved in Superman movies or TV shows) made appearances on Smallville.